AOL Billing Department, He Was Not

In the first trial-by-jury conviction under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, an Azusa, CA man has been found guilty of posing as the America Online (AOL) billing department in emails sent to thousands of consumers in an attempt to obtain their personal and credit card information.

According to the Justice Department, the defendant was found guilty of running a "phishing" scheme in which he used compromised Earthlink accounts to send e-mails to multiple AOL users. Evidence showed that the emails appeared to be from the AOL billing department and threatened the users to "update" their billing and credit card information, or lose their AOL service. The emails also directed the victims to Websites, also maintained by the defendant, where the information was collected.

In addition to the phishing conviction, the defendant was convicted on 10 other charges, including "wire fraud, aiding and abetting the unauthorized use of an access device (credit card), possession of more than 15 unauthorized access devices, misuse of the AOL trademark, attempted witness harassment and failure to appear in court."

In a hearing scheduled for June 11, 2007, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of up to 110 years in prison for the combined offenses.

The Department of Justice is a Cabinet-level agency.

Also See:
How to Recognize Email Identity Theft Scams
Protect Yourself from Identity Theft
CAN-SPAM Law Hits Sexually Oriented Email
CAN-SPAM Act Keeps Price of Spamming Going Up